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Here and There on the Turf Sarazens Return. Judge Price in the Stand. New Orleans Tax. Belmont Stake Schedule. Max Hirsch has brought Mrs. Yanderbiltg Sarazen back to the races in winning form, just as he did in 192.3. The wonderful gelded son of High Time and Rush Box began last year by a victory at Havre de Grace and followed it up by taking the rich Dixie Handicap of the Maryland Jockey Club at Pimlieo. This is the proposed campaign for this year and Sarazen has taken his first trick. While the chart will show that Sarazen only beat Edward F. Whitneys Joy Smoke a head, his race was just a bit better than was possible to show on paper. Weiner had the Van-derbilt champion under restraint through the early racing and many good judges were of the opinion that it would have been possible for Sarazen to have won by a wider margin. Then it must be remembered that it was the first start of the year for Saraien and he was giving away ten pounds to as good a horse as Joy Smoke, and Joy Smoke is a real race horse himself. What is of the greatest importance is that Sarazen raced cheerfully and when put to a drive at the end responded gamely. There was nothing of the temper that cost him many races last year and if he continues in his present happy mood there is every reason to expect that he will take his rightful place with the top of the handicap division over any distance. Sarazen does not like to have his races close together and it is entirely possible he will not be seen under colors again before the running of the Dixie Handicap, but this mile and seventy yards under 128 pounds should do him a world of good in his progress towards the big Pimlieo stake race. While it was expected, and predicted, some time ago that judge Charles K. Price was to be returned to the stewards stand in Ken tucky, there was real causr* for congratulation in the actual happening. The appointment of this popular and efficient official was made by the Kentucky R icing Commission at its meeting on Tuesday No racing official in this or any other country enjoys more respect and more public confidence than doe.s Charles F. Price. No racing official is more devoted to the duties of steward, and no official makes a closer study of all the various problems that come before that body in the course of a season of racing. And judge Price is also named on the license committee, together with S. C. Nuckols, his associate in the stand, and W. S. Sherwood. This is the most important body of all in the governing of racing and it is doubly important at this time, by reason of the recent Kentucky scandal that brought banishment to severa1 who were proved guilty. Judge Price may be depended upon to safeguard every inter est of the turf and his sterling integrity as sures that only the guilty will feel the weight of punishment. And now it is proposed to impose a daily tax on the racing at New Orleans. This proposal comes from th? | olice jury of Jefferson Parish and it is sought to have it state wide. The racing at Jefferson Park is in Jefferson Parish and it is the only course that comes under any jurisdiction of this body, for the Fair Grounds is in Orleans Parish, but it will be sought to have an act passed at Baton Rouge that will take in the entire state. The tax. under the proposed law. would l e ,000 daily. It is not known just how this measure will be received by the governors of racing in Louisiana, but this tax might possibly be a good thii.g for the sport. Just what attitude will be tnken by the Jefferson Park management and lOdward R. Bradley and his associates of the Ixmisiana Jockey Club at the Fair irounds remains to be discovered. This year the Westchester Racing Associa tion is making a notable change in the run ning of the stakes at Bflmont Park. It has been the custom to have the Metropolitan Handicap as the feature of the opening day, but this year it has been set back until it is run on the ninth day of the meeting, which is Monday. May 31 Decoration dayi. Under the new order it is the Toboggan I Handicap and the International Steeplechase |4 | Handicap that are the opening day feature , on May 21. It will seem odd to have a Bel mont Park opening without a Metropolitan Handicap, but the Toboggan Handicap has always been an extremely interesting race, | though of not the same importance as the Metropolitan. The Toboggan Handicap is a three quarters dash for three year olds and over, while the Metropolitan Handicap is a mile dash. The Suburban Handicap, the big mile and a quarter race that was inherited from the Coney Island Jockey Club, is to be run just five days after the Metropolitan Handicap, the following Saturday. These two races attract many of the same horses and the five days ■ ample time between the run ning of the two. The Withers Stakes, one of thf most prized of the three year old stake races, is down for decision on Wednesday, May 26. the fifth day of the meeting. This i.s a race that follows the running of the Kentucky Derby on May 15., and the eleven days difference affords every chance for the movement of candidates from Ixmisville to the big Nassau County I I track. Then the Belmont Stakes, which is run this year at a mile and a half, will not be run until the last day of the meeting June 12. The only really notable change in the schedule for the Belmont Park stakes is the setting back of the Metropolitan Handicap from the opening day and the moving up of the Toboggan I Handicap to take its place. 1
